WSJ: Why College Football Is Studying Major League Soccer

[BarnBoy]

Never thought I would see that headline.

Here's the gist of the article:

But not even Southern football fans are sure things to show up to games any more—and their increasingly unpredictable behavior has sent officials from SEC athletic departments searching for ways to win them back.

Their common destination this off-season was an unlikely location in Big 12 country. But they weren't scouting other colleges. They were chasing an experience so foreign that it doesn't currently exist in the Southeast: a Major League Soccer game.

Clicky click

I don't watch or like soccer, but I think the fact that they basically play two 45-minute, uninterrupted halfs is a big part of it. Money (e.g. commercials, advertisements) is ruining the college football experience. Too many interruptions.

Damn you, Country Hearth Bread.

 

[Gophers7NatTitlesBadgers0]

While Sporting KC has no trouble filling their venue with fans, only 9 of the 19 teams are at 90% or better in average attendance this year. Seattle is the only team that plays most of its home games in a venue over 30,000.

http://mlsattendance.blogspot.com/

I definitely agree fan experience needs to be enhanced especially when it comes to the students. I'm not sure taking cues from an MLS team will translate into better attendance for college football.

 

[maroonedinCA]

While Sporting KC has no trouble filling their venue with fans, only 9 of the 19 teams are at 90% or better in average attendance this year. Seattle is the only team that plays most of its home games in a venue over 30,000.

http://mlsattendance.blogspot.com/

I definitely agree fan experience needs to be enhanced especially when it comes to the students. I'm not sure taking cues from an MLS team will translate into better attendance for college football.

I don't think you can just look at the pure numbers for MLS and draw a good conclusion, however. You have to take into account the lack of popularity in the support of soccer and STILL teams are able to draw good numbers and have devout fans. That's what they're studying, how MLS teams have been able to effectively overcome HUGE obstacles in selling their brands to fans.

 

[Gophers7NatTitlesBadgers0]

I don't think you can just look at the pure numbers for MLS and draw a good conclusion, however. You have to take into account the lack of popularity in the support of soccer and STILL teams are able to draw good numbers and have devout fans. That's what they're studying, how MLS teams have been able to effectively overcome HUGE obstacles in selling their brands to fans.

Personally I think the main thing a school like Florida can learn from this is if you eliminate 50,000 seats, stop carrying games on TV, and cut ticket prices in half, you can create the illusion that more people, students in particular, will attend games. But that's just me.

 

[maroonedinCA]

Personally I think the main thing a school like Florida can learn from this is if you eliminate 50,000 seats, stop carrying games on TV, and cut ticket prices in half, you can create the illusion that more people, students in particular, will attend games. But that's just me.

I can't really argue with that.

 

[bottlebass]

You have to remember that much of the time its harder to watch and MLS game on TV than a college football game. My cable package include BTN but doesn't include whatever network MLS is on. The only MLS games I can watch are the ones aired on ESPN networks. I (and I know i'm in the minority in the nation and on this forum) actually like watching soccer and think its a very exciting sport to watch, especially MLS. not only is it very back and forth like hockey, but having only 2 x 45 minute periods where they play without commercial interruption is awesome to watch both on TV and at the actual game. I went down to brazil for part of the world cup this year and the USA vs Ghana game (which was the only USA game I won the lottery for) had an atmosphere which was better than any sporting even I have attended in the US. That includes NFL, NHL, MLB play off games, college bowl games, college rivalry games etc. It was off the charts. Match the intensity of the atmosphere of that game and match the limited commercial breaks at the game and that will make the game day experience better than watching it on TV. Until that happens many people will continue to choose to watch on TV vs attend games. I will never give up my season tickets though.

 

[MNGoldenGophers1]

Was that the thing they had on TV the past couple of weeks?

 

[Gopherguy0723]

You have to remember that much of the time its harder to watch and MLS game on TV than a college football game. My cable package include BTN but doesn't include whatever network MLS is on. The only MLS games I can watch are the ones aired on ESPN networks. I (and I know i'm in the minority in the nation and on this forum) actually like watching soccer and think its a very exciting sport to watch, especially MLS. not only is it very back and forth like hockey, but having only 2 x 45 minute periods where they play without commercial interruption is awesome to watch both on TV and at the actual game. I went down to brazil for part of the world cup this year and the USA vs Ghana game (which was the only USA game I won the lottery for) had an atmosphere which was better than any sporting even I have attended in the US. That includes NFL, NHL, MLB play off games, college bowl games, college rivalry games etc. It was off the charts. Match the intensity of the atmosphere of that game and match the limited commercial breaks at the game and that will make the game day experience better than watching it on TV. Until that happens many people will continue to choose to watch on TV vs attend games. I will never give up my season tickets though.

I find soccer cheering to be much more fun and enjoyable than for any other sport. Watch the EPL. The fans stand and sing through much of the game. It blows away what's going on at almost any home stadium or arena in the big sports in this country.

 

[Rescooter]

I find soccer cheering to be much more fun and enjoyable than for any other sport. Watch the EPL. The fans stand and sing through much of the game. It blows away what's going on at almost any home stadium or arena in the big sports in this country.

Then you should stop frequenting Gopherhole and bring your infinite wisdom to the soccer board. We would not think less of you if you did.

 

[gophergrad]

"I BELIEVE THAT WE WILL WIN" could be a pretty good gophers chant...

 

[station19]

Personally I think the main thing a school like Florida can learn from this is if you eliminate 50,000 seats, stop carrying games on TV, and cut ticket prices in half, you can create the illusion that more people, students in particular, will attend games. But that's just me.

Is that you Calvin?

For years and years I always felt the biggest difference between attending a pro game and a college game was not having to put up with the commercialism at a college game. Those days are gone......bring them back.

Easy fix. Have the ncaa pass a rule stating no in-game promos, or a limited number. Same for all - no one gains advantage. Also not too hard to investigate and enforce.

In-game promos are the worst thing about attending a live game. Selling out to every last dollar will eventually catch up with you.

 

[Gopherguy0723]

Is that you Calvin?

For years and years I always felt the biggest difference between attending a pro game and a college game was not having to put up with the commercialism at a college game. Those days are gone......bring them back.

Easy fix. Have the ncaa pass a rule stating no in-game promos, or a limited number. Same for all - no one gains advantage. Also not too hard to investigate and enforce.

In-game promos are the worst thing about attending a live game. Selling out to every last dollar will eventually catch up with you.

Indeed. The promo where Goldy tells everyone to whip out their TCF Bank cards was the worst. Just horrible. Let the band play. The band is mostly irrelevant these days.

 

[short ornery norwegian]

I would be interested to see figures on overlap for Soccer fans with other sports. (i.e. 35% of soccer fans also follow pro football......). My gut tells me that soccer is one of those niche sports - in other words, soccer fans are very passionate about soccer, but don't care as much about other sports. I see it being like hockey and (real) wrestling in that category. I have friends who have kids in youth hockey and they think hockey is the only sport that exists. Same thing for parents who have kids in youth wrestling.

So, I'm not convinced that the soccer experience can transfer over to another sport - because the one thing you can't duplicate is the level of intensity of the fan base.

 

[LakerFan]

In-game promos are the worst thing about attending a live game.

I don't disagree, but nice stadiums don't get built on ticket sales alone.

Selling out to every last dollar will eventually catch up with you.

I doubt it. Attendance will rise or fall along with the quality of the product on the field. Advertising is like death and taxes, inescapable. Having more or less ads may change the quality of the experience, but won't impact them in attendance. Winning or losing more will.

 

[Gopherguy0723]

I don't disagree, but nice stadiums don't get built on ticket sales alone.


I doubt it. Attendance will rise or fall along with the quality of the product on the field. Advertising is like death and taxes, inescapable. Having more or less ads may change the quality of the experience, but won't impact them in attendance. Winning or losing more will.

Except we have evidence that what you're saying isn't entirely true. Attendance is dropping almost across the board regardless of record. Alabama cannot get students to show up.

 

[Word]

I think people can live with advertising (not saying I like it) - I think it's the ticket prices vs quality of TV broadcasts that is hurting attendance. Why pay $75 for a ticket when you can hang out with some friends and watch it on TV at home, get replays, multiple camera angles, etc.

I think student attendance is a little bit different animal - not sure how to solve that.

 

[FreakyDeke]

I think people can live with advertising (not saying I like it) - I think it's the ticket prices vs quality of TV broadcasts that is hurting attendance. Why pay $75 for a ticket when you can hang out with some friends and watch it on TV at home, get replays, multiple camera angles, etc.

I think student attendance is a little bit different animal - not sure how to solve that.

Not only that, but TV timeouts drag the game out for those at the game, while the people at home get to go to the bathroom and get a beer from the fridge. And have WiFi. Having said that, they still miss out on rushing the field after beating Iowa.

 

[station19]

Not only that, but TV timeouts drag the game out for those at the game, while the people at home get to go to the bathroom and get a beer from the fridge. And have WiFi. Having said that, they still miss out on rushing the field after beating Iowa.

But they get the golden opportunity to watch and listen to the obnoxious in-game promos instead of listening to the band.

The college game atmosphere is one of the biggest advantages over the pro game. Why ruin one of your two biggest selling points?

And by game day atmosphere I don't mean bean bag toss and face painting.

 

[4four4]

You have to remember that much of the time its harder to watch and MLS game on TV than a college football game. My cable package include BTN but doesn't include whatever network MLS is on. The only MLS games I can watch are the ones aired on ESPN networks. I (and I know i'm in the minority in the nation and on this forum) actually like watching soccer and think its a very exciting sport to watch, especially MLS. not only is it very back and forth like hockey, but having only 2 x 45 minute periods where they play without commercial interruption is awesome to watch both on TV and at the actual game. I went down to brazil for part of the world cup this year and the USA vs Ghana game (which was the only USA game I won the lottery for) had an atmosphere which was better than any sporting even I have attended in the US. That includes NFL, NHL, MLB play off games, college bowl games, college rivalry games etc. It was off the charts. Match the intensity of the atmosphere of that game and match the limited commercial breaks at the game and that will make the game day experience better than watching it on TV. Until that happens many people will continue to choose to watch on TV vs attend games. I will never give up my season tickets though.

MLS soccers next TV contract will fix some of the problems you have written. We will see game of the week on the same channel at the same time through out the year.

Speaking of atmosphere KFAN's Paul Allen said his EPL experience was off the charts in fact he still talks about it. Having so many commericals has ruined my passion for the NFL or the BIG Ten. As I have gotten older I have found my passion for soccer out distance football and hockey.